Posted: 6/9/2010
Gordon MacDonald, keynote speaker at Whitefield's recent 13th commencement exercises, addressed the fifty-three graduating seniors with a challenging and inspiring message. The ceremony was held at The Church of The Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia.
MacDonald stressed that decisions made during the college years were critical in paving a direction for the students' entire future. He encouraged them to carefully consider three questions as they moved into this next phase of life.
"The first question you must ask is 'Who will populate my community?'" said MacDonald. MacDonald then encouraged students to fill their world with healthy relationships and social connections which prodded them to pursue a deeper walk with God.
He also asked, "What is it that you most truly believe?" MacDonald challenged students to spend time developing their own convictions, rather than living off the faith of others. He encouraged students to "not simply cling to the faith of your parents, your school, or your church, but evaluate and reevaluate until you have formulated your own convictions."
MacDonald closed his speech with a call for students to contribute to the larger society, rather than being self-focused.
"You must ask yourself, 'What am I going to give to my generation?'" he said, "God has given each of you a specific contribution to give this world."
Author of more than a dozen books, McDonald is best known for his book, Ordering Your Private World, which won the Gold Medallion and the Platinum Awards from the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association. There are nearly 1.5 million copies of this book in print, and it has been translated into a dozen or more languages.
McDonald currently serves as Editor-at-Large for Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today. He writes regularly for each edition of Leadership and also writes a column called “Out of my Files,” which appears on Leadership’s website, LeadershipJournal.net. MacDonald has also served as Chairman of World Relief, president of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, and Interim President of Denver Seminary. In addition, MacDonald served as a pastor for more than forty years, at Trinity Baptist Church in New York City and most recently as the senior minister at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. He continues to be Pastor Emeritus at Grace Chapel.
Whitefield's graduates have been accepted to 90 colleges and universities including Boston College, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, New York University, Northwestern University, Smith College, Spelman College, Stanford University, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, and Wake Forest University. Twenty-seven of these colleges admitted Whitefield students for the first time.
The Class of 2010 has earned over $5,500,000 in scholarships and grants. Congratulations to a wonderful class of unique and dedicated students and a special thanks to Gordon MacDonald for a challenging and inspiring address.
